The “background” description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description which may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly or impliedly admitted as prior art against the present invention.
Many agencies or organizations are structured to include a central office of workers and information, along with one or more field groups who glean information from a periphery about the agency or organization. Field personnel collect findings and information, which is transferred or communicated back to the main office where decisions are made. One example of a central-office/field-office structure is a law enforcement agency. Field personnel may be dispatched to a scene of a crime to collect information about the crime, including location, pictures, property damage, and other related information. This information is usually collected and brought back to the office for data entry into a main computer system for storage and analysis.
Data communication processes between central and field personnel tend to be verbal and are completed using a variety of tools, such as telephones, two-way radios, paper forms, cameras, digital voice recorders, geospatial-positioning systems (GPS), and other specialized equipment. These devices are typically not integrated or interconnected. Since the information is not aggregated, it is not used for immediate strategic and tactical decisions. Since the field personnel are physically distanced from the central office personnel, there is a lag from the time the information and evidence is collected to the time the information and evidence is available to central office decision makers.